City of Pearl

By Karen Traviss

Three separate alien societies have claimson Cavanagh's Star. But the new arrivals -- the gethes from Earth -- now threaten thetenuous balance of a coveted world.

Environmental Hazard Enforcement officer Shan Frankland agreed to lead a mission to Cavanagh's Star, knowing that 150 years would elapse before she could finally return home. But her landing, with a small group of scientists and Marines, has not gone unnoticed by Aras, the planet's designated guardian. An eternally evolving world himself, this sad, powerful being has already obliterated millions of alien interlopers and their great cities to protect the fragile native population. Now Shan and her party -- plus the small colony of fundamentalist humans who preceded them -- could face a similar annihilation . . . or a fate far worse. Because Aras possesses a secret of the blood that would be disastrous if it fell into human hands -- if the gethes survive the impending war their coming has inadvertently hastened.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Mar 17, 2009
• ISBN: 9780061739989

Karen Traviss

Karen Traviss is a former defense correspondent and TV and newspaper journalist. She has worked in public relations for the police and local government, and has served in the Royal Naval Auxiliary Service and the Territorial Army. The New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of City of Pearl, Crossing the Line, The World Before, Matriarch, Star Wars-Republic Commando: Hard Contact, Triple Zero, and Star Wars-Legacy of the Force: Bloodlines, she lives in Wiltshire, England.

Reviews for City of Pearl

[eric fernance · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

wow. this book got me right from page 1. I can't wait to get started on the next one.

[slothman_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Adding human beings to an already volatile situation involving four alien species (each of which Traviss capably paints as differently alien) sets off fireworks.

[devilwrites · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The premise: ganked from BN.com: Three separate alien societies have claims on Cavanagh's Star. But the new arrivals--the gethes from Earth--now threaten the tenuous balance of a coveted world.Environmental Hazard Enforcement officer Shan Frankland agreed to lead a mission to Cavanagh's Star, knowing that 150 years would elapse before she could finally return home. But her landing, with a small group of scientists and Marines, has not gone unnoticed by Aras, the planet's designated guardian. An eternally evolving world himself, this sad, powerful being has already obliterated millions of alien interlopers and their great cities to protect the fragile native population. Now Shan and her party--plus the small colony of fundamentalist humans who preceded them--could face a similar annihilation . . . or a fate far worse. Because Aras possesses a secret of the blood that would be disastrous if it fell into human hands--if the gethes survive the impending war their coming has inadvertently hastened.My RatingMust Have: this is a space opera with a wee bit of hard SF thrown in, and a heckuva soft SF punch in terms of social sciences being the prominent vehicle for the story. I don't think this is the first time I've read an SF book with an environmental message, but it's the first time I've seen it crafted in this way. Traviss creates fascinating alien points of view and doesn't make humanity look all that great in comparison (for the most part, as there are human heroes), but if you sit back and really try and get into the alien POV, you realize that Traviss is asking her readers very valid questions about our place in the universe and where we really belong. And I embrace it not because I'm an environmentalist, not because I'm a cynic, but because Traviss has crafted a beautifully detailed world with characters who make sense, even when they do things you don't agree with. This book is the first of six, and I'm trying to get my hands on book two now, which is currently out of print short of the Kindle (go figure: a six book series and the ONLY book out of print is book two!). I can't wait to see where this series goes, where the characters go, and where Traviss takes her readers in terms of themes and messages. If you're a fan of SF, you'll definitely want to give this a shot. It's a different take on the whole first contact/aliens-are-superior type of story, and it's one well worth reading.Review style: This book surprised me in that its rich in thematic and socio-economic issues. I was just expecting a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am space opera! So I want to talk about the other cultures that permeate this book and how humanity fits into the bigger picture and what exactly it means to the reader. I want to talk characterization and how it impacts the plot, and I want to talk about how Traviss's tale of first contact (which technically isn't first contact) bears recognition. There will be spoilers, but oh, this is a fun one to discuss! Once you've read it, feel free to read the full review at my LJ. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome. :)REVIEW: Karen Traviss's CITY OF PEARLHappy Reading!

[lente_2 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This book is filled with ideological messages. On top of that it is a slow read. Nothing much happens. There is some walking around some talking and that's it!

But the worst is the ideological messages that are forced on you. No doubt the author is a fan of veganism. In the book the character Aras (the alien) say that he can't smell the meat on Shan (the female lead character) to which she replies something like "no of course not, we don't really need to eat meat some people just like it" What a sickening display of contaminating a fictional story with ideological nonsense.

And then there is the environmental thing. All life is sacred, don't pollute etc. Any sympathy you might have for this message quickly evaporates when you realize to what extreme this is being taken. It is of the same order as buddhist monks carefully sweeping the path they walk on out of fear that they might step on an ant.

There seems to be a lot of self hatred in the book as well. Reading the book you might come away thinking all humans are bad and humanity an evil plague. Again a nice scene from the book, Aras says something like "you consider these rats vermin" to which Shan replies "the only vermin I know walk on two legs". Nice!

So on conclusion, not recommended unless you are a hippie vegan green loving environmentalist. If you happen to be one than you'll probably come away thinking this book is awesome.

[tommcgreevy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A thoroughly enjoyable read doing what science fiction does at its best - exploring ideas with a minimum of bang bang. The focus here broadly is human nature. Can our essential nature morph in isolation? The nature-nurture debate revisited. While much of the story deals at the species or small group level, there is focus as well with the individual in here, on how identity evolves in response to environmental and genetic change. Fascinating stuff. Well written. Compassionate.

[knownever · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This isn't a great book. There are a lot of awkwardly constructed sentences, and it takes about 75 pages to get started.However, there are some unusual elements that I found it worth reading. The hottie alien is from a matriarchal culture so he's really into our badass, eco-cop protagonist woman because she reminds him of his alien leader-females. Men attracted to dominant women because they're dominant is a pretty rare thing in fiction and worth praise. It's the kind of "expanding our conceptions of gender" thing that wins James Tiptree awards.Really though, some of the reviews of this book demonstrate how conservative and narrow minded scifi is as a genre. Stories set in space in particular. I mean, sure the audience for Halo books (Traviss' day job is writing Halo and Star Wars adaptation novels) is pretty lowest common denominator, but hard scifi is such bro territory it's hard to take sometimes.

[chavala_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I like speculative fiction that explores cultures and holds up examples of other ways of being. I also like speculative fiction that gives the reader things to think about. The Wess'Har series is a great example of both of these.Issues of environmental ethics, what does it mean to be "people," the ways different cultures handle conflict, space exploration, several different sentient alien races, and great, compelling characters, it's all here. Some of the best SF I've read lately.

[karenirelandphillips · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Well written, fast paced, with fascinating main characters and excellently drawn cultures, the first novel in Traviss' Wess'har series is well worth your time. Eco-cop Shan Frankland, on her way to retirement, is shanghai'd into a twenty-five year voyage to a (formerly lost) earth colony of religious fanatics. Her ostensible goal is to retrieve a gene database maintained by the colonists. But other cultures share the planetary system with the colonists - and one, the Wess'har, see their job as the maintenance of ecological balance. The effects of Frankland's crew on the planet and its cultures, and the effects of the Wess'har on the Frankland and her crew are well thought out, tightly plotted, and psychologically realistic.

[atimson_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Going in to City of Pearl, I wasn't sure what to expect; it's the first work of her's that I've read. The only reason I even took a look at it, to be honest, was because she's writing the upcoming Star Wars: Republic Commando—Hard Contact. So, I was pleasantly surprised by the book.The plot has us following an EnHaz official (think DNR, but European and at the international level) as she leads a team of Marines and profit-minded scientists to investigate what happened to a former colonization mission to Cavanagh's Star. Unfortunately, not until they arrive do we receive the infodump allowing us to understand some of the introductory chapters set on the planet, and the epigraphs. (In classic Herbertian style, the epigraphs are mostly not for tone, but rather for foreshadowing and plot advancement&mash;when they're understood, that is.)Once the team arrives, though, the book starts rolling. Fittingly, in a book whose plot is mostly driven by hasty choices made through lack of time, neither reader nor characters are given much of a chance to contemplate what has happened. Rather than going into details, I'll just say that except for one major plot twist, everything follows from what happened, and the choices that were made. (And while that exception does come into play logically, it is sprung on the reader rather suddenly.)By the end of the book, nothing's the same anymore. Most of the pieces are out of play; too bad, really, since I would like to see more of these characters. Still, given time, there's room for return.That brings me to my only other problem with the book: time. We know from a certain subplot that the book takes about a year; however, the pacing of the main plot threads makes it seem faster, perhaps only a month.Still, my two small gripes aren't enough to really mar an otherwise excellent novel.

[amberwitch · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A great science fiction novel with aliens whose societies and motivations are fascinating, and only peripherally relates to the human race.Shan Frankland, who is about to retire from EnHaz instead becomes the leader of an expedition to establish contact with an independent space colony, traveling 80 years to reach it. She receives a Suppressed Briefing about the mission, which reveals itself to her as it becomes relevant. The colony is a Christian religious community, whose survival is made possible by an alien from the moon planet of the one they are colonizing. The agenda of the alien is to protect an indigenous aquatic race, but has taken the human colony under his wing because of its possession of a gene bank of plants and animals from Earth, and because he is lonely.The behavior of the expeditions scientists causes conflict with the alien races, but when a much later military space ship approaches the colony, hard decisions has to be made.The plot line is very similar to the plot in Elizabeth Bears "Carnival" from 2006 - where colonists are adopted by the AI of an abandoned alien city because their alien 'pets' like them, and a greedy government tries to take over their resources. Both stories deal with the issues that arise from population growth and limited natural resources in an interspecies situation. The novel is light on the science, but thought-provoking as it explores moral and intellectual ambiguities.Shan Franklandis a well-developed strong female protagonist, whose firm belief in herself and her own ethical decisions are well based. Her interaction with expedition members, colonist and aliens are well described and credible, and the rest of the cast is equally fascinating.

[orangemonkey_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I first discovered Karen Traviss while reading a Star Wars novel that she'd written, and at the time I remembered thinking that she was far too good of a writer to be stuck writing movie tie-in novels. If I thought that before, it's definitely been reinforced after reading City Of Pearl, the first novel in her "Wess'har" series.This novel stars Shan Frankland, a police officer in the European Union's environmental hazards division, who is sent along with some scientists and marines to track down a missing group of colonists who may hold the key to humanity's future with them.There's a lot going on in this novel - it is, at various times, a critique of corporatism and genetic modification, while also being a manifesto on veganism and situational morality. At the same time, as well, it's enjoyable on the level of being a cool-as-hell science fiction adventure story, full of political intrigue and complex ethical quandaries. Traviss also does an excellent job of presenting the three alien species in the novel as all unique, and fully-developed races. We see each of them as having their own culture, philosophy, and political factioning within their culture. It's a lot more thought than what normally goes into science fiction novels, and it would be an enjoyable read on that level alone, even if it didn't have the complex political and philosophical material built into it as well.

[mendoza_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I couldn't put this book down. The characters are fabulous and the author touches on many topics that are close to my heart: environmentalism, big business out of control, genetic engineering and human arrogance in relation to other species. I highly recommend this book.Shan Frankland is my hero. And I was pulling for her and Aras long before the book got there. This is probably in my top 5 for SciFi series. I wish Traviss wrote quicker!

[simonw11 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A real find comparisons with Ursula K Le Guin,Walter John Williams. and Arthur Sellings (So British) came to mind. In a future dominated by large cooperation's an expeditions is sent on a 75 year cold sleep journey to find a lost colony. When they get there they find the colony exists at the whim of a powerful race who are not about to have the new arrivals mess around with someone else's planet.